Craighill Keeper’s bLog

Hmm… so remember this post from when we met Capt. McBride and he showed us his boat and generously lent us batteries and a spotlight? His generosity didn’t end there! Well, uh, who’da thunk at the time that three weeks later we would be the proud new owners?!?! Yes, sailboat Shibumi (soon to be The Keeper come spring) is hopefully the future Craighill tour boat. Life is certainly funny sometimes. Of course, docking a sailboat there will absolutely require a dock.

Can’t wait til my kids see it! Although, that probably won’t be until the spring as well.

I’ll have more on the new sailboat (1970 Columbia 36′ Crealock) and NPSA awards dinner (which was a blast!) later. Chris and Doug (new NPSA social chairs) were awesome helping me coordinate finding a marina in 3 days and moving the boat to it where they can pull it out for the winter. And hopefully Chris will start posting here too (hint hint!)… I’m waiting for Doug to email pics he took with his camera before doing a full write-up since my camera didn’t have any on the boat with me in them. Oh yeah, and I’m working on finishing the book over the next two days, so I’m really not supposed to be doing anything else!

Hey, you can kill two birds with one stone! Do your holiday shopping online and donate to a great cause in the process! And bonus…

As the holidays approach, Giveline is working harder than ever to help earn donations for Historical Place Preservation. We’re adding new product, improving the customer experience, and coming up with new ways to get your supporters shopping on your behalf.

Over the next seven days (through October 31st), we will be keeping track of all purchases over $50 made in the Giveline store. On November 1st, we will randomly select one of these purchases as the winning entry, and give that winning customer:

- a $500 Giveline gift card

- a $500 donation to their selected cause

So forward this email with a note to all of your friends, family, and supporters – they can win $500 to spend in our store, along with a $500 donation for Historical Place Preservation. Again, each purchase over $50 will qualify as an entry, and there’s no limit to the number of entries.

Looks like they have some cool stuff. I’ll be shopping there too!

Gradually, bluish light began appearing over the horizon and the meteors appeared less and less. I walked around the deck to look toward the west, but stopped short when I spotted a fat seagull sitting up on one of the davits. Good, maybe they don’t like the fishing line on the railings after all, I thought. Just then, an osprey flew off the roof directly over my head like he’d been sitting there watching me. He startled me so much, I gasped out loud and jumped back. I think he may have tried poop-bombing me and narrowly missed my face as I found splotches down the lapel of my jacket once the sun rose further. I wonder if he sat glaring down at me from a perch on the dwelling roof the whole time I sat in my chair counting meteors? Spooky. Tyler stayed in bed for a while playing with the wind-up radio and flashlight. I brought out the lemon muffins for us, noting there were tons of ants all over the floor of the kitchen, crawling into our bags, and running single file between all the floorboards. How in the world do so many ants get two miles off-shore? I’d really like to know! We ate breakfast and then Tyler stole my chair to do some early morning ship spotting with the binoculars while I cleaned up and stored all the sleeping stuff away. Eventually, we hopped in the boat to head back to the marina where Capt. McBride had promised to have some real coffee waiting for me. Mmmm! I wanted to get there early enough to savor the coffee and relax a bit before heading back out. The water was finally calm (calmed around 8 AM) and I figured we could zip back pretty easily without getting too wet. As we dropped down into the boat, the temperature was warming enough to not require a jacket. I knew I’d be changing out of my long-johns and jeans into shorts and a t-shirt when we returned. I also happily noticed the black dock line was in fact still intact and holding up fine. For the first time, I hadn’t lost a thing from the boat/lines. Woo!

We pulled into the marina and I made a wide u-turn so the bow of the boat was facing back out and wouldn’t require ‘reverse’ to turn around when we departed. Since the motorshaft isn’t quite long enough for the height of the boat fully inflated, it tends to stop sucking water through after I use reverse for some strange reason. Three impellers later (not to mention all the time lost while the boat was in the shop), I’ve learned to just avoid using reverse at all costs unless absolutely necessary. It also means I have to keep the motor tilted as far down as possible at all times underway. Terrence met us at the pier with coffee and hot chocolate. Woohoo! My elation over coffee turned to embarrassment as Terrence pointed out I had an ant in my teeth. Ewwww! Tyler giggled and relayed how I had pulled one out of my ear earlier in the morning! As we walked up to shore, I saw Marty from Chesapeake Bay Magazine was already there and her photographer joined her shortly with her gear. So we were back on the water after “real” bathroom breaks and headed out. The chop started picking up a little and we got splashed a bit along the way. Tamzin kept her camera snapping most of the ride out as the lighthouse became larger in view, with the silhouette of the Bay Bridge in the distant background. I sported my goofy bicycling “Ride Like A Girl” skull cap that I like to wear to keep my hair from blowing in my face and since it doesn’t have a bill, I don’t risk it flying off like the visor I lost last time out. I can’t wait to see how those photos turned out!

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Ah another weekend down. My routine is to head to the lighthouse on a late afternoon/early evening, haul all the supplies and bags up, eat dinner, and veg for the night to prepare for a long day of work the next day. The energy required to tie the boat up, haul the supplies up, and secure the boat better is enormous, leaving me wrecked. This way, that part’s done and the next day will be fresh. The problem is I can’t sleep out there knowing the boat is being yanked around. I had not had a trip yet where I hadn’t lost something off the boat. A ring ripped off the side, a fender attached to said ring sent adrift, the railing on the old boat ripped out, etc. etc. The Bay and boats attached to open-water lighthouses just don’t seem to get along well for me. I am eagerly awaiting the boat lift proposal… In the meantime, the scrubbing and maintenance can’t wait for a lift so my little assistant and I headed out again Saturday with plans to pick up Marty and Tamsyn (? I hope I spelled that right) from Chesapeake Bay Magazine at the dock the next morning. I skipped my son’s baseball game so I could fix the stabilizer V piece that fell off the boat on our last trip out (causing us to idle back up the Patapsco to Pasadena for hours…). It was a tricky booger - you can’t get to the screw holes because the pontoons are in the way inflated, so I had to get this goofy little ratchet screwdriver tool since even the Phillips head on the ratchet went down too far and couldn’t reach. Eventually, I got several screws put back in and hoped for the best. The flaw in the plan was that a front had just passed through (but thanks for the rain!!!) and the winds that followed were still going strong. The forecast called for them to die down overnight, so we decided to put the boat in the water and wait til the last second to head out while we still had daylight or for the winds to calm - whichever came first (that last glimpses of the sun came first).

The afternoon at the marina was pretty exciting all by itself! We met Jesse the dog and Capt. Terrrence McBride of the sailboat Shibumi, having the distinction of being the only sailboat I have ever seen in that marina! More on that later.

I had just put the boat in the water (hey, I’m getting better at backing the trailer up - I managed to get it squeezed around someone’s truck that was partially blocking the ramp entrance) and was standing chatting with Capt. McBride and one of the marina owners when the sound of emergency sirens wailing in the distance became louder. Rob said it was probably EMS coming to put their boat in, so we scrambled down and moved my boat further down the dock and then I moved my Jeep/trailer into the center so it was relatively out of the way. Sure enough, a boat was trailered down to the water and launched quickly, followed by an ambulance, fire truck, and another emergency vehicle. I squeezed my rig through to park across the street and then we sat in the boat picking up pieces of conversation. Someone had gone overboard near Hart-Miller Island and needed a rescue, possibly two people. The water looked pretty rough, so I held my breath waiting to hear what was going on. I’ve heard plenty of rescue calls while listening to the VHF up on the lighthouse, but this was the first time I was witnessing one. Scary stuff! My other thought was, “Man, I hope they never have to rush in here to rescue ME!” Although, I used the action-time as a learning experience for my son, explaining this is why he always hears me preaching ’safety first!’ and make him wear a life vest. One of these days, I’m going to have to teach him how to start and drive the boat Just In Case. One thing at a time - right now he’s learning how to work the lines and tie/untie it.

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What a way to spend a gorgeous October Saturday! Attending the power boat show in Annapolis with a friend was a blast and then I zipped up to Baltimore for a party at lifetime member Willie and Meg’s house in Edgemere with locals and sailors who are passionate about their waters and lighthouses. The recurring theme of the day was hearing about the guy from Minnesota who bought Smith Point light and apparently talked to most of the boat show folks before I did. The difference is he owns Smith Point privately (and seems to have plenty of money to pour into it) while Craighill is owned by a non-profit (us) and we rely on donations and help from other people. This Baltimore Sun article was mentioned to me several times. I find it fascinating he got stuck out there for three days. I would feel safe enough in any storm in the lighthouse, but I can’t imagine what my poor boat would go through. I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t survive. Wow, he has internet out there!! I checked out the ISP and they’re only in Northern Neck, VA, so I guess I need to find a wireless provider in Baltimore who wants to broadcast a clear signal in exchange for free access and a webcam at Craighill Front. Then I could watch baseball games on my laptop via the SlingBox I have wired up at home while I’m out there Although, I don’t mind listening on the radio now and then and thankfully, the signal does carry up to Baltimore (yes, I’m a Nationals fan - never really got into the American League). Funny that the article mentions the fishing line trick as my very helpful assistant keeper (my son) and I strung some up last weekend finally to deter those nasty birds.

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[Full Photoset] I think that photo would make a great advertisement for Custom Boatlifts, Inc., who paid a visit to the Craighill Lower Range Front Lighthouse yesterday to survey the feasibility of retrofitting a boat lift onto the existing davits (click for larger image showing their company name on the boat). The work barge was awesome out there. The whole crew was also very helpful in fitting the ladder that’s been sitting inside under the hatch on the southwest side, which seems a more leeward place to tie the boat up. I’m not sure the ladder will actually remain there as it doesn’t quite fit right. Although, the platform does seem to be closer to the water level than the steel grate on the other side.

Chris and I met for lunch in Pasadena, where I was surprised to find a house on my short-list of possibilities about 9 months ago on Stoney Creek is STILL for sale! Wow. We discussed board items over lunch, then headed over to Scott’s (of Custom Boatlifts) house, where we were treated to a boat ride on mostly calm waters out to the light. When I initially mentioned the boat lift idea to Chris, I joked that it’d need to be easy to drop down as well as secure so that I was the only one who could drop it without having to hold the boat in one place to work a crank or something. I wrote, “remote control?!” half-jokingly, particularly since there’s no power at the lighthouse (yet). So I giggled out loud when Scott lowered his boat into the water off his dock using a remote! Seemed a promising sign!

This circa 1950s or 1960s photo depicts the davits/lifts in use on both sides of the lighthouse. The pair on the left are the ones we are looking at as the pair on the right are now missing a davit. I still haven’t uncovered what happened to it. You can see a board mounted across the tops of the ends of the davits and now there is quite a bit of rust and erosion where the board was, so the structural integrity of the davits will need to be determined before we sink money into a lift system. I think it will be awesome to lift the boat out in the same way keepers did back in the day. It’s historically accurate. However, aside from the coolness factor of replicating how keepers manned the light into the 1960s, I’ve found lifting the boat to be an absolute necessity out there. The waters are far too rough to tie my boat up with glued-on rings and the tide and winds change unpredictably. I’d like to be able to sleep restfully through the night so I have enough energy to actually do maintenance work two days in a row rather than being drained from babysitting the lines and boat all night and rearranging as needed.

Planning on using solar power to drive the motors needed, we started out discussing overhauling the existing winch, but deeming that too large and expensive of a project for now (it appears to be missing some parts that would require a machinist and I want something as quickly as possible), we turned to discussing placement of mounting motor boxes and how to wire cables through the davits. The Custom Boatlifts crew continued measuring and brainstorming while Chris and I headed up to the gallery deck around the lantern. I had noted water is still leaking through in places, likely where the seams have split in the roof paneling, so we used up the rest of the roll of Ice & Water Shield to cover a large area. I’ll bring another roll out next time and finish the entire thing.

Meanwhile, with a bunch of strong guys out there offering to help, I asked them to try to fit the big ladder that’s been sitting inside the lighthouse since we acquired it under the hatch that opens and closes easily on the leeward side, but has too short of a ladder to use as an entrance. The guys were awesome and I owe them a huge thanks for their help! We placed a lock on the top of the hatch, but once the ladder was in place, realized it wouldn’t close all the way. Plus, the ladder doesn’t fit in the way I envisioned it would. I thought it would hook in backward from the inside out on the bar, thus fitting behind the shorter ladder. A brace attached to the caisson from the existing short ladder blocks that since the other ladder is wider. So it fit platform facing in, and seems a bit awkward. Oh well, it was worth a shot! But I’ll probably end up hauling it back up next time out as it seems a little unstable and I’d like to close that hatch so it doesn’t warp. Bummer. It’d be nice to be able to tie up on that side until we get a lift. Ah well, you don’t know til you try, right?!

So keep fingers crossed that the lift idea is viable! Even if it’s a little awkward to work, anything is better than tying up out there for any length of time. If there’s anything I’m learning about being a Keeper, it’s that you have to be creative and adaptable! I’m also learning that while lighthouses stir romantic notions in most lighthouse lovers, reality is that as a keeper, particularly of an off-shore light, they take a ton of exhausting body-numbing work. Whew! I’m up for the challenge, though. Thanks to everyone for their help and expertise yesterday!

Scott joked that he and his son River will bring me coffee in the mornings in a couple years. Boy would I love that, but hopefully I have a coffee solution next time I’m there that early. Must get a single-burner stove or something. That grill just doesn’t boil the water in the percolator like I had hoped it would!

I was disappointed to receive an email from a company I ordered industrial metal primer paint from matching the color of the lighthouse stating they no longer carry what I ordered. Back to the drawing board as I’m fairly certain the “Safety Red” Rustoleum I currently have is going to be way too bright. I’m picturing fire-engine red, but I’ll probably try a swatch to confirm my doubts. Speaking of fire engines, I arrived home to a bunch of flashing lights right in front of my house; a sight that can stop the heart beating for a few seconds since I knew my family was home. While thoughts of “Is someone hurt? Is the house on fire?..” raced through my head, I was relieved to see them in the front yard spectating. Turns out a motorcyclist was hit. Eesh, hope he’s ok.

You too can drink fresh beer or bubbly from the shiny Craighill Cup. You’ll just have to wait until next year to get the opportunity! Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Lighthouse stood proudly as sailboats battled dying winds to take a turn around it last Saturday in the Chesapeake. If I do the links right, they should open up images with a “next” button in the upper right (or press ‘n’) and a “close” link at the lower right so you can return to this post.

Chris Overcash, a member of North Point Sailing Association and new board member of HPP, organized the first ever Craighill Cup Regatta to benefit the restoration efforts at the lighthouse and we are eternally grateful! What a cool event! Nine boats participated in the regatta on what was supposed to be a sunny warm day for the end of September, but started out raining and gray instead. No worries, the race went on. New lifetime member of HPP, Willie, and I boarded the lighthouse early to photograph, video, and wave as the boats rounded the light (in theory). I also got to show off the lighthouse toilet that I’m oh-so-proud-of (not many opportunities to do that!). Using binoculars, we watched them get ready at the start line around North Point.

We watched the leader, Flying Circus, approaching quickly and then stop suddenly just short of the light. They took down their sail and puzzled, we watched as they motored away. I’m still not sure what happened there. Not much later, other boats started cruising between the fishermen and the lighthouse before the sound of ratchets and gear clanked as they swung around to make the turn around the lighthouse. Seeing all these sailboats heading in our direction was probably one of the neatest experiences I’ve had.

Roaring Fortys was the big winner of the first annual Craighill Cup and relished their prize of the Craighill Cup and a plaque.

We hopped in my little inflatable dive and rescue boat to pull ahead of the sailboats and hopefully get a good shot of them with the lighthouse in the background, but they were too fast for us. Instead, we pulled up to Commodore Charlie Rouse’s boat and watched the last half of finishers cross the line. We rafted up together with several of the finishers with my boat serving as a buoy between the big guys. Made me think of Sesame Street’s “Which one of these is not like the other…” song from my childhood! Burgers and sausages and beer for all!

I had a wonderful time and look forward to even more entrants next year! Let’s fill the horizon with sails and really make a statement! Thanks to all who participated. Truly an awesome experience!

1st Place: Roaring Fortys
2nd Place: Phaedrus
3rd Place: Ringmaster

I even made it back down to DC in time to video tape my neighbor’s son sing the National Anthem, although my pants were still wet from falling in the water while pulling the boat up on the trailer AFTER I changed. Oops!

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Auto truck for Portsmouth L.H. Depot, VA. Ford Smith Form A Truck taken at Baltimore, MD Oct. 10, 1916. Photo by the Hughes Co. (Photo of a photo as I begin my research for a pictorial history of Maryland lighthouses)

Did I mention I’m writing a book? I was contacted by Arcadia Publishing to write a pictorial history on Maryland lighthouses, which is basically a giant research project. I recently did a “half way through the season report card” on the Washington Nationals baseball team and I was the only blogger who replied to the spam request and actually did it, so it was published by default. I kinda feel I’m doing the book under the same premise because I know other folks were asked and turned it down before me. My time constraints are rather restrictive, but I’m plugging along and am rather excited about the project. Call me an aspiring amateur writer and photographer who is quite thrilled at the prospect of being “published” with both text and photos, but it also allows me to dedicate time to one of my passions. Spending a day at Archives II in College Park, MD helped bring back all the love and passion for lighthouses that I had somewhat forgotten getting immersed in the day-to-day angst over boat issues and scheduling. Sifting through box after box of historic photos and lingering over each one (even Virginia ones, which is where I found this one - the coolest historic auto photo ever) was quite enjoyable. My only disappointment was being disallowed from taking photos out of their plastic protective sleeves or turning on the lights in the photo stand, so many photos are probably not useable for the book despite my digital developing prowess.

As I sorted through the photos at the end of my last box, I stared puzzled. There was a lighthouse missing. Mine. In fact, I never ran across a single photo of any of the Craighill range lights. Then I realized I had also not seen any of the Baltimore Light. Or Seven Foot Knoll. I know historic photos exist for those lights as I’ve seen them on the USCG Historian’s list of Maryland lighthouses. I checked with the desk and asked if there were any more boxes that they didn’t bring out. Nope. They rechecked their list for the 5th District, and even skimmed others. Nothing.

So I have an appointment with the Coast Guard historian’s office o-dark-thirty Tuesday morning to go through the photos they have. This time I need to bring matte glass and remember an extra card for my camera. Hopefully I can run through all of them and still get home in time to see my daughter off to her first day of kindergarten! (a scheduling conflict I realized after I made the appointment - eek!)

Reminder! September 22nd is the first annual Craighill Cup sailing race! Email or post a comment for more information.

The main floor is not in this video, but some of it can be seen in the next video when I show the experimenting we did with geopods. Still working on that one! Had a great time waving at all the boaters who went by! Where I said “fog lights” I meant fog bell. I have fog lights on my car. A fog bell was in the lighthouse!

I do have a request, though. If our little boat is tied up there, please try not to make a huge wake flying by. It slams our boat into the side of the lighthouse. Thanks!

Today we were accompanied by Dr. Larry Forsley and his really cool gadgets and equipment out to the lighthouse. Despite that linked video, I actually understood what he was saying (usually) in person! He brought a laptop (Toughbook, just in case) and these little data collector pods that transmit their data to the laptop as well as record it internally for downloading later. The only problem, which I have already experienced and occurred to me when he was having problems “talking” to one pod we located out on the deck, was that the lighthouse serves as something akin to lead encasing kryptonite for Superman. Nothing really transmits through. I’ve experienced that with my VHF radio, regular AM/FM radio, cell phone, etc. So the pods couldn’t acquire GPS data because they couldn’t “see” the satellites from inside the lighthouse, and the one we placed outside so it could get a GPS fix, couldn’t transmit to the laptop inside. Interesting! We may have to try this again another day.

The coolest part was that Dr. Forsley got my kids involved. He had them assemble the pods before we began and disassemble them at the end. He also instructed them on setting them up and leveling them and then let the kids do that on their own. They really had a blast. These little pods measure movement and vibration. He wanted to see how much the lighthouse vibrates or moves based on tides, ships passing by, etc. I’m curious to know that as well as it feels pretty solid with all that concrete sunk so far down. The database is somewhat intelligent as it can pinpoint if vibrations are a person walking, an animal, a car, etc. Although, it incorrectly tabbed one of us walking as a car driving by. Umm, 2 miles off shore? Don’t think so! I don’t think they were programmed for lighthouse motion datapoints! I can’t wait to see his results - should be interesting.

I’ll be posting a full article once he sends me the results, as well as a video of everything we did after I edit it. In the meantime, here are some photos from today.

P.S. Boat ran great today. I even throttled it up and we flew back to the marina, if a little wet. Whew!